Social media does not directly contribute to SEO ranking, but the links you share across social platforms increase brand exposure. They add up and influence search engine optimization in six directions:
- Extensive content distribution
- Longer lifespan of your posts
- Improve online visibility and organic traffic
- Increase brand recognition.
- Enhance brand reputation
- Boosts local search engine optimization (SEO)
Your shares across social media sites have no place in SEO rankings. Still, when more people share your content throughout social media, it generates social signals that indicate your posts are useful to your target market.
Research by CognitiveSEO made some exciting findings. After analyzing 23 million social media shares on selected platforms, they discovered an equivocal link between social shares and SEO. The shares, likes, and comments your posts receive are vital signals which Google and other search engines use to rank your website.
Source graphic via CongnitiveSEO
However, although the links are helpful, Google doesn’t count them as it would a link from other authority sites. Despite that, you agree that the best ranking pages on SERP are often those with more social shares.
In describing how social media impacts SEO, social media does not have a direct influence on SEO. But it indirectly has a positive effect on search ranking.
